Two Roads
by DixieMame
Summary: 44 of the 100 Challenge. During Antoine's stay in the Anti's world, he learns some things are universal. But which roads you take are ultimately up to you.


_ Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction, taken from when Antoine was in the Anti verse, pretending to be his counterpart._

A heavy influence on the phrase "The eyes are the window to the soul" and "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.

All charries belong to Archie.

* * *

The maniacal laughter that came from the hedghog's ears was almost painful to listen to…especially since it was almost coming every hour, on the hour. Sonic The Hedgehog – or Anti-Sonic, as only one would think of him as – had a laugh much like a braying donkey, but if you were to ask any member of his gang, be it young Tails, buffed up Rotor, sassy Sally, belle Bunnie, or the quiet Antoine, they'd tell you it was music to their ears. So this current day of mayhem was almost like a symphony.

"That's right, run, you little maggots!" The leader cackled, watching terrified Mobians scatter after he and his gang had invaded the relatively peaceful marketplace. Stores were broken into and destroyed, and there were no less than a dozen injured victims lying down in beds of shattered glass. However, as the annoying evil laughing continued, one out of the dozen was slowly getting up, and making a quiet, desperate crawl to freedom. Out of all the gang members, it was Bunnie who noticed it.

"Well shoot, looks like we got us a survivor." She commented, her accent thick as ever as she pointed out the startled escapee. "Ya'll must be losing your touch." She cast a playful look at the others, though Sonic seemed to have already gotten bored at the scene. Another fast quality of his was his attention, apparently.

"Geez…"He grumbled, taking a bite out a stolen apple. "I've already busted enough skulls to make my knuckles sore…" He then waved a dismissive hand toward Antoine's direction. "You, Ant, make sure the bum realizes just who he is to us."

The coyote merely nodded, and began walking toward the victim, who was now babbling incoherently in fright. As Antoine passed Bunnie, however, his 'good' eye glanced over to her. He'd been doing a lot of that, as of late but only Bunni e seemed to notice. Normally it would have carried a crease of annoyance, this look, as if to say 'Why do you always have to give me more work'?

But…she wasn't able to really describe the emotion his eye carried now. It was foreign to her. He quickly resumed his path, and everything went back to normal, as far as the rest of the world was concerned.

As for the prey, the begging, pleading, and loud sobbing wasn't stopping Antoine from removing his sword, ready to do out his command. The scruff of the man's shirt was grabbed, and before the punishment began, he heard his attacker whisper.

"Je suis désolé."

I am sorry.

* * *

Yet for all the apologies he could make, Antoine still felt disgusted at himself when they returned to their hideout. How long had it been since he arrived in this strange backwards world? He had lost a sense of time, as he was forced to play this new role. As he watched the others walk in, gloating about their victory, he suppressed a shudder at seeing the villains with his friends' faces on. His beloved princess giggling over how easy it was to trample over the elderly, Rotor growling that he didn't get to fight as much as the rest of them, Bunnie…

…Bunnie. Oh, by the Walkers, if he thought about her right then and there, he knew his act would falter. He was even staring at her, again! Swiftly clearing his throat, he announced he was going to his bedroom to wash the blood off of him. He did his best to ignore Sonic calling him a pansy, though couldn't help slamming his door behind him.

He removed his uniform in quick haste, throwing his clothes on the bed in a desperate attempt to get away from the smell of the blood. His room, much like everyone else's, wasn't much. A bed with a broken wooden headboard and springs coming out of the mattress…a full length mirror without the frame resting lazily against a wall…a dresser with only one drawer, filled with the same bloody clothes…and a bathroom, which, for the sake of keeping food down in his stomach, Antoine didn't think too much about.

Instead, right now, he looked at the mirror, roughly as tall as he was. After some mental debate, he felt secure enough to remove his eyepatch, and also tossed it onto the bed. Pretending to be half blind, or so he guessed, always put a strain on his eyes. It had taken some getting used to, and fortunately, everyone had mistaken 'the getting used to' as his usual clumsiness. Still, he found himself closing his eyes and rubbing his eyelids, trying to ease them. He opened them after a few minutes and sized up his reflection.

He'd done this often, staring at himself. He would recall bedtime stories from his mother, one in particular about a girl going through a looking glass, and landing in another world. Though knowing how foolish it was, he'd still put a hand to the mirror, even now, wishing it could be that simple to go home. To go back to his life, and be the man he wanted to be. The man who would do the right things, who'd stop people like the man he was impersonating! The man who was surrounded by loved ones, his closest friends, the woman who had captured his heart…

Now he could allow himself to think of Bunnie. He closed his eyes again, painfully relishing in all his sweet memories of her. When she told him she cared about him…their first kiss…the missions they had gone on together…For all his flaws, for all the mistakes he had made, she accepted him, appreciated him, and loved him. She was the ultimate reason to go back…as selfish as it sounded, he knew she needed him. He knew that for the entire tough attitude she put up, she felt insecure of herself, due to her metal limbs. She needed him to hold her when she was so fragile, to reassure her that she was beautiful, and…their combined need was so desperate and deep, Antoine found it a wonder he hadn't gone mad from losing her.

Maybe he had gone mad, he thought, when he opened his eyes again, and saw Bunnie in the mirror. Even so, his eyes turned hazy, and his voice fond, as he murmured "My precious Bunnie." ,and gave the image a sweet kiss.

It was three seconds into the kiss that he realized it really was Bunnie he saw. Just not his own.

Whipping around with a startled yelp, he saw to his horror that 'Anti'-Bunnie was standing in the room, in front of his door. Her eyes were narrowed, and her expression was merciless. "You aint got no scar." She nearly snarled, her finger pointing at him from across the room. "You aint Antoine."

It was a scar that he was supposed to be hiding?! Any swears of frustration were put aside for nervous stammers. "N-Non, non! I am Anti-Antoine…I mean Antoine! Yes! Oui! The scar, it has…healeded it self! Like the magic?" His voice trailed off, seeing from her face that she wasn't believing any of it.

"Yer that goody two-shoes Antoine from that other Zone." She added, now walking towards him, fists clenched.

Antoine found himself backing up into the mirror, panic and sweat dripping off of him. "Please, mademoiselle, let me explain, there is no need for the hurting…"

"That's why ya'll been so quiet n' stiff." She continued, passing his bed and not stopping. "That's why yer always so hesitant to do what the boss man says. That's why yer always givin' me funny looks."

It was obvious he wasn't going to get out of this with words , and now that she was right in front of him, he could see his life flashing before his eyes. He just wished he could rewind and playback a few of his favorite moments a few times.

Real life didn't have a pause button, however, and he found her arms pinned to wall, over his shoulders. They stared at each other for a long time, until Antoine's fear turned into confusion. Why wasn't she ratting him out to everyone? She almost seemed to be studying him…and then, finally spoke.

"I won't tell them." She said in a hushed voice, and for a wild moment Antoine thought she could read his mind. "On one condition."

He merely nodded…surely anything she wanted him to do couldn't be worse than what Sonic made him do on a daily basis. When Bunnie spoke again, though, her voice had an odd tone to it, a sort of emotion he'd never heard from his own southern beauty.

"Love me."

Before he could register just what she said, her mouth was suddenly on his, and her arms were around his body in a close embrace. He could feel himself redden, but not as much as he could feel her tongue suddenly inside him and her fingers weaving through his fur. Millions of thoughts were racing through his head as she continued molesting him, but the winning dominant thought got him to grab her by the shoulders and successfully rip her off.

"Sacrebleu!" He exclaimed, nearly panting as he gaped at her. "What in the world was that?!"

"Ya'll never been kissed?" She answered with a smirk, and tugged on his arm to bring their faces together again. "C'mere - "

With a scream not unlike that of a young schoolgirl, Antoine shoved her off, tried to run, tripped on his own feet, fell, rolled, and then scrambled into a corner. He half-expected applause for those acrobatics. "A moment, wait!" He ordered, trying and failing to sound confident. Not that it was stopping Bunnie from coming towards him again. "You have some explaining to do! You want me to…to…" He could barely say it, much less believe it.

"I know you want me, Sugar." She practically purred, stopping at the bed, and sat on the ratty mattress. "Or the Bun from your world…" She shrugged, not caring too much about that part. "Whatever. A Bun's a Bun, right?" The flirty smile made her think this was good enough.

As for Antoine, who was staring at her as if she had grown a few extra heads, balked before answering. "W-W-what about Anti – I mean Sonic? He is the man of ladies?"A cold chuckle cut him off, with Bunnie shaking her head.

"Ya'll have trouble hearing English as much as speakin' it?" A few more snickers were let loose, and then her intense gaze was upon him again. "I said I want you, not Sonic, not anyone else… I want you, Antoine D'Coolette."

"But why?!" He protested, incredibly uncomfortable under that white-hot leer she was giving him. "I know I am most handsome and most charming…but…you are an Anti!" His arms made wide, wild gestures, trying to put an emphasis on this important fact. "And I am the good and the nice and all the things you Antis are against! I am everything your Antoine is not!"

"That's the cotton-pickin' POINT!" She screamed, her look of lust now turning into one of aggravation, hands digging into the mattress. An uneasy silence reigned then, and after what felt like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds, Antoine dared to speak again.

"You have losted me." He meekly admitted. "You are and do bad, and you want a 'goody-two-feet'?"

After an eyeroll over his murdering of good English, she looked down at the floor, her voice wavering back and forth from anger to, Antoine's surprise, sadness.

"Ya think we got a choice doin' these things? Shore, some of it was fun in the beginin'…but after a while, enough is enough, and ya just want somethin' different. But Sonic aint ever gunna let that happen…he could beat us all up in the blink of an eye. He owns us." Antoine noticed she seemed to curl up into herself a little. "I got used to bein' hurt, to bein' insulted, to feelin' like dirt…but when you looked at me…" She slowly looked at him, and he did a double-take at the blush he saw on her face. "I dunno…made me feel all special…like I was someone important…"

"Je suis désolé." Antoine interrupted, holding up a flat palm to stop the story.

A confused blink from Bunnie. "Huh?"

He drew in a breath, exhaling loudly, and spoke again. "I am sorry. I feel the sadness for you…but I cannot do as you ask. I have done many things here that I have no pride for…" And there, now, a strength he didn't know he had. "…But I will not betray my love. That is my final straw, and no camels will break it."

What did break was the mattress, as a loud ripping from Bunnie's tight grip had roughly intensified. She leapt to her feet, the blazing hellfire returning to her eyes and nearly making Antoine jump. "I don't think you get it!" She snapped, her previous demure manner washed away in a heartbroken fury. "Ya'll got two roads to take here. You either do as I say, or I run out there and let the coyote out of the bag." She pointed at the door to make herself clear.

Yet Antoine did not hesitate to repeat himself. "Je suis désolé."

"Stop sayin' that!" Bunnie screeched, now in front of him again, enraged that there was pity in those eyes instead of love. "Ya'll want me to head on over to Sonic right now?"

"Je suis - "

"STOP IT!" She threw a punch aiming for his face, but Antoine was not a Freedom Fighter for nothing. He managed to grab the attacking arm, and the other, holding them at her sides. The tables had turned, and now, suddenly, Bunnie was the one afraid.

"Je suis désolé." He said one more time, firmly pressing onto each syllable. "It…it is good that you want to not be bad. But if I did as you said, I would be betraying my love, and the last of my morals would be 

gone. I would be no better than my counterpart. You do not want more bad…you want good. And you can find it."

Bunnie's face twisted in disbelief. "Are ya stupid? Look at what I've done, and what Sonic's gunna make me do tomorrow. Yer the closest thing to good I got."

"You are not Sonic." Antoine said, his manner now soft. "You are Bunnie. Perhaps we were wrong, back home, to think you were all bad, just because you were not us. We all took different roads…but it's not too late. The roads do not end." He gently let her go, and gestured to the door.

"You have two roads before you now as well, mademoiselle. You can continue living a life of fear under the shadow of Sonic…" He brought his hand back, but offered a friendly smile to her. "Or you can take the road less traveled by." A playful wink added to that.

Another long silence took control, a surprised Bunnie staring at a comforting Antoine. She was the one to move first, running for the door, and slamming it behind her. Antoine's shoulders slumped, and he flopped himself onto the bed, ignoring the springs that poked at him. The pain of knowing his life might end in a matter of minutes was greater than a few springs. He closed his eyes and waited for them to come.

They never came.

For the rest of his stay in this Zone, Antoine's cover as 'himself' was not blown. He wanted to thank Bunnie, but decided there was a greater thanks in not looking at her anymore. He did not want to burden her further with those lost, loving reminiscent looks of before. Nothing else changed as the days went on. Yet sometimes Antoine would think of those two roads.

Both roads had a Bunnie. One road was shorter, yet riddled with differences from his usual way home. The other road stretched on for ages, yet he could see his Bunnie waiting for him on the other side. He knew so many who would give up and take that short road.

Antoine never strayed from the road less traveled by. To him, it made all the difference.

**End.**


End file.
